In Richard Blumenthal's long tenure as attorney general, there grew a perception that the office had an anti-business bias. George Jepsen had to deal with that when he was elected to succeed Mr. Blumenthal in 2010.

He has. By closing hundreds of dormant investigations and other steps, Mr. Jepsen, 59, sent the message that businesses would get a fair shake from his office and that he was pro-business and pro-consumer. He would go after businesses that were cheating, because cheating hurts consumers and fair competition, but not be an impediment to the lawful conduct of business.

This is the right balance. Though Mr. Jepsen has adopted a much lower profile than his predecessor, he has been just as effective. The Courant endorses him for a second term against Republican Kie Westby, a lawyer and military veteran from Southbury.

At the state level, Mr. Jepsen has focused on privacy rights, the environment, consumer protection, better monitoring of nonprofits and the anti-trust implications of the rapid consolidation of the state's health care industry.

He has also quietly developed a national profile and was recently named vice president of the National Association of Attorneys General, a group that often coordinates major legal actions by the states. Under Mr. Jepsen, Connecticut was the lead state in major multistate litigation against the rating agency Standard & Poors over public pension fund losses. He also helped negotiate a $400 million-plus settlement against Apple over e-book price-fixing.

Mr. Jepsen, of West Hartford, has had a strong first term, and the state would be well served by his re-election.

His opponent, Mr. Westby, 63, seeks to tie Mr. Jepsen to Mr. Blumenthal and Gov. Dannel Malloy and tar them as anti-business, a charge that doesn't stand up well to the record. Mr. Westby would also support the repeal of the state's 2013 gun safety bill. Although he is a successful lawyer, he doesn't make a compelling case to replace Mr. Jepsen.